Category: Storms

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The hurricane, mountain bike, and flamingo revisited

This is an updated post for the second anniversary of the arrival of the Flamingo at St. Marks NWR.

I was fortunate enough to be the first person to see and photograph a wild American Flamingo at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on October 31, 2018. This was the first verified sighting of a flamingo at the St. Marks Refuge since 1995.

It was by serendipity, that a hurricane, a mountain bike, and a flamingo combined to enable this sighting. By happy coincidence, it was on the anniversary of the establishment of the Refuge (Halloween 1931)!
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Storm at St. Marks NWR

On 7/21/2020 I headed down to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge to get some sunset pictures. I knew rain and storms were possible which sometimes can make sunsets more interesting.

As I was driving along lighthouse road near the “T-Dike” I saw to the east one of the yellow construction vehicles used to repair the levee sitting near a structure sometimes called the “bus stop”.

The sun was low in the west and illuminated the scene very nicely and there were some dark clouds forming in the east. I left my tripod in my white van (the Vana White) so I could walk faster.

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Moonlight and lightning

The night is a wonderful time to take photographs. I particularly love to take shots of the Milky Way, lightning storms, and moonlit landscapes.

Moonlight is simply sunlight bounced off the gray moon and it has the same color balance as sunlight. Moonlight photographs look very much like daylight images except you can see stars and any source of artificial light appears to be very bright.
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Beautiful palm tree succumbs to hurricane Hermine

I lost a friend this year.  A friend that I visited often.  That friend was a palm tree located behind the St. Marks NWR lighthouse. As a young tree it had been pushed over to its side, possibly by a tropical storm.  The tree not only survived but bent back upright over the years. Palm trees that survive such events are often beautiful and I, like many other photographers, wanted to record this wonderful tree next to the salt marsh.

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St. Marks NWR before the arrival of hurricane Hermine

I love clouds, storms, hurricanes and Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge so of course I headed to the refuge the day hurricane Hermine was expected to make landfall. My plan was to enjoy the clouds and wind then take a few “before” images to compare with the aftermath of the storm. These photographs are pretty self explanatory so I’ll let them do the talking.

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Clouds and patchy sunlight over a salt marsh at St. Marks NWR

A few days ago Chantal and I were at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge as some dark storm clouds passed to our west.  The dark clouds formed a beautiful backdrop to the Cedar Point Trail salt marsh. The sun was low in the sky and illuminated parts of the marsh creating a great photo opportunity.

We were also treated to the sight of several sea squirts shooting impressive streams water into the air.  Perhaps they were warming up for the 4th of July celebration the next day.

The image of the sea squirts was extracted from a video I shot so it is not the same quality as the images from my Pentax DSLR.

I hope you enjoy these images!

Jim

(Click to enlarge)

 

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Infrared photography at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

My first attempt at infrared photography took place at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge for a very simple reason: the sweeping landscape, clouds, and ocean could help make any photo look good.

Most modern digital cameras can record infrared. To find out if yours does simply point your IR remote control toward the lens of your camera then either take a photo or watch “live view” while while pressing some of the remote buttons. If you see light from the remote then you camera will work, at least to some degree.

Getting setup for IR photography can be as simple as buying an infrared filter for your lens. There are a number of filters available but I got the Hoya R-72 which is probably the best for beginners. Continue reading “Infrared photography at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge”

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The witness may approach the bench

In addition to the great wildlife St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge offers amazing landscapes and vistas. During the summer the lucky visitor may get to witness one of nature’s spectacles, a summer thunderstorm.

A few days ago my wife and I were preparing to leave after a day on the refuge when we noticed a developing thunderstorm. We were at the lighthouse which happens to be one of the best locations for watching and photographing approaching storms. Continue reading “The witness may approach the bench”

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